Part 2- The orphans. When our puppies were 4 weeks old, and weaning was progressing nicely, news came of the tragic loss of a leonberger bitch who sadly had died 2 days after undergoing a difficult c-section delivery. She had left behind 9 weak puppies struggling to survive and a badly traumatised owner struggling to hand-raise them. I had read accounts of newborn pups being successfully fostered by nursing bitches, mainly when they themselves had either lost their own litters, or had only a few puppies of their own to feed. Our girl Nubi, being young and fit, was brimming with milk. Her own brood were already on four square meals a day from me, and suckling from their momma was now supplemental to this. Although I hated to deny them regular access to her, I hated more the idea of standing by and letting those newborn orphans fade and die. So I called the breeder, tried my best to comfort her as she wailed with grief for the loss of her special girl, and offered her puppies a chance to be fostered. There was no guarantee that Nubi would accept them, and it was a very long drive each way, so the whole idea was going to require a leap of faith. Unfortunately, she was on the other side of the UK from us, and while she struggled with the decision, first one, then a second puppy faded and eventually passed away. The phone rang at 10 pm and she said she was on her way with the surviving pups. Before I had made the offer, I had called my own vet to ask a number of questions; what was the likelihood of her milk supply drying up too soon? (I had 9 puppies of my own, the last thing I needed was to be stuck hand raising another 7!) He reassured me that so long as she was being stimulated by pups sucking vigorously, it should not dry up. In the wild, dogs can continue to nurse their young for months. Was the milk supply she was producing for a four week old brood going to be alright for three day old pups? Not as good as the first milk, but certainly better than anything else, and although they may have missed that first colostrum, there is a substance in bitches milk called gamma globulin, specifically immunoglobulin A, which is geared towards recognising viruses and bacteria, which it then primes the body’s own immune system to seek out and destroy. In this way, the protective immunological boost provided by the bitch’s milk runs throughout the nursing period, helping the young pups fend off infection while their own immune systems marshal their own defences. I also asked the vet what the threat would be of these puppies introducing and infection into my pups, specifically, the canine herpes virus? (As two had already “faded” there was a possibility that this was a real threat). Because all of my bitches are vaccinated before they are mated, the pups and their mother would be covered. As I will continue to re-vaccinate for future litters, they too should be alright. After all, this is a virus that can be picked up from the benches at a dog show, so using the vaccine is prudent in any event. There were a few more questions and other precautions we put into place, mainly hygiene related, before I felt it was safe to try this. My husband and I quickly dismantled and disinfected the whelping box, moved furniture around and transformed half of the kitchen into a maternity ward, much to the confusion of Momma Nubi and our other two bitches. The orphans arrived in the morning, and the moment Nubi and her mother Bella got wind of them, they went into hyper vigilant mode. Dogs, like all canines, hide their young for the first three weeks safely in a den. Dams by instinct prefer to keep them isolated from the rest of their pack, and in some cases even their most trusted allies and relations within the pack. In domestic dogs this urge remains, and some dams won’t even be comfortable about their beloved humans approaching too closely for the first week or so. By three to four weeks old, (coinciding with the time that weaning would naturally be taking place), dams gradually ease off their desire to quarantine their brood, and begin to introduce them to the pack and wider world beyond. Our girl had just made this transition with her own brood. She had introduced her pups to Sommar, (our other young bitch), had allowed Bella her mother to snuffle and clear up after them, had allowed the cats a casual look, and had welcomed the first of the two-legged guests for a privileged look. Now her instincts were thrown up in the air with the arrival of 7 helpless 3 day old puppies. Each one had been carefully rubbed all over with a cloth that had previously been rubbed all over Nubi’s own four-week old puppies, transferring their familiar scent on to the newcomers. Nubi’s desire to tend to the infants was muddled with her alarm at the presence of strangers smelling of strange dogs (their breeder and a friend) in her kitchen where her own brood was located in the puppy room to one side. So I had to ask them to step out and wait, while I carefully introduced Nubi to each small newcomer and settled her down with them. To my great relief she took to them straight away and they – with some coaching- latched on to her and filled their hungry bellies with warm mother’s milk. With that, the orphans had come to stay until they could fend for themselves and we went from 9 to 16 puppies. The first time Sommar saw the newcomers, she did a double take and dashed around the corner to make sure that the four week old brood were still there and had not somehow magically regressed to infancy. Grandma Bella was transfixed and could not contain her glee at having more babies in the house. She eagerly helped her daughter Nubi with the cleaning duties. Neither Sommar nor Bella produced milk however, which is a phenomenon that sometimes does occur in a pack with more than one intact bitch with strong maternal instincts. Pity, Nubi could have used the help. What followed was three ultra-exhausting weeks. I moved my bed back in next to the whelping box, and saw to it that the orphans got a good feed every two to three hours. Unlike with her own brood, Nubi would not stay in the box with them for that first week. She had to be invited in to settle down with them. And then she made her excuses and exited once all were fed and cleaned. These orphans were very small and weak, and it was not until they were 5 days old that they had the same weights as our own brood had as newborns. For the first week I allowed the older pups to suck hard on their mother twice a day, to ensure that the milk kept flowing. Their teeth and enthusiasm meant that Nubi would have gladly been starting to see them off with a few gruff words at that point, had circumstances not taken such an odd turn. As it was, she was a real star, allowing both lots of puppies to nurse on an endless daily cycle of every two to three hours. The other adult bitches also switched back to hyper vigilant mode sensing that the pack once more had newborns in its midst. This made visits from future families for the older puppies a bit more challenging, but we managed to keep calm and carry on. On the morning of the third day with us, I saw that little Red-Ribbon orphan had a bad discharge from her still tightly sealed-up eye. While snapping a photograph of this to send to the vet, I saw that one of her thumbs was also swollen and red. Off to the vets she went. It was discovered that her umbilical wound was also internally infected. Swabs were taken and antibiotics prescribed. The cause came back as e.coli and proteus bacteria. My vet’s best guess was that infection was picked up shortly after birth through the umbilical opening and that in her case it had become systemic, flaring up at random points around her body. Luckily, two of these were externally apparent and we were able to get her the treatment that she needed to survive what was fast becoming septicaemia. Daily swabbing of the eye and carefully measured amounts of oral antibiotics eventually brought her back to health. Unfortunately, about two weeks later, little Blue Ribbon boy began to fall behind in the weight gaining stakes, so I made extra effort to see off his greedier siblings and attach him to the prime spouts. He was active and sucked vigorously. But shortly after that he was totally uninterested in his midnight feed. I left him to check again how he would be for the 3 a.m. feed, but again, he could not be coaxed to drink. I knew I’d be calling his owner first thing in the morning to get her agreement to whisk him off to the vet, but at 6 am, he had sadly passed away. It is surprising sometimes just how quickly a puppy can go from apparently normal energy and feeding behaviour to passing away. They are still so fragile, so foetal, during these first three weeks of life. The vet suggested that he too had been fighting infection, but in his case, there were no outward signs to alert us. Indeed, I later learned that one of the early fading puppies had had some blotches on his belly, and may well have had the same infection, picked up in those first traumatic days as their mother struggled to survive. Normally, weaning starts around the third or fourth week, after the pups’ eyes open and they start to stagger about on their own unsteady feet. In this case, I knew we had to push it early because Nubi had had a near brush with mastitis and was beginning to show signs of her milk supply tapering off. This was a challenge because the fosterlings were already so much smaller and weaker than normal, but we got them tasting a little finely minced turkey by 2 weeks or so, and by day 20 they were urinating and defecating by themselves, had started lapping at goats’ milk in a dish and were eagerly gumming their way through little handfuls of raw meat and puppy porridge. Poor Nubi was looking thin and haggard and ever so thankful whenever she saw me coming with the weaning dish, which meant she was off the hook for the moment at least. At three weeks old, their grateful breeder took the long drive across country to collect her little orphaned brood and take them home. As I write this, all six survivors are thriving and looking forward to a bright future. The prospect of hand-rearing a litter of newborn pups is pretty daunting. Having a bitch available that will accept fosterlings is not going to be common, but I would urge breeders to think about taking the chance to help one another should they find themselves in such a situation. Remember to put excellent hygiene measures in place. Always wash hands between interactions with litters and other dogs in the household. Be careful of cross contamination until you are sure the foster pups are not harbouring infection which can put other pups at risk. Take care in introducing foster pups to a dam and do not leave them with her unattended for at least two weeks and then only if you are sure her intentions towards them are benevolent and that they are big enough to not be trampled by her. Ensure that all puppies get the care they need and do not neglect the early socialisation needs of one litter to care for another. Most of all pay attention to your bitch, feed her a massive amount of very good quality food, in multiple meals, including a lot of supplemental calcium, or you risk her drawing too much from her own skeleton. Make sure that she turns frequently and that all nipples are getting equal and sufficient attention from the pups while she is producing such copious amounts of milk or one could become congested and go bad. Mastitis can come on very very quickly. Respect her emotional state too, and don’t assume that she will accept a load of gawking strangers cooing over her fosterlings. And most of all, tell your hard working Leo momma what a fine girl she is and make her feel special. She deserves it.